| Abstract: | Multiple Tuned Mass Dampers (MTMD's) consisting of many tuned mass dampers (TMD's) with distributed natural frequencies are considered for suppressing effectively the harmonically forced single mode response of structures. The fundamental characteristics of MTMD's are investigated analytically with the parameters of the covering frequency range of MTMD's, the damping ratio of each TMD and the total number of TMD's. The effectiveness and the robustness of MTMD's are also discussed in comparison with those of the usual single TMD. It is found that there exists an optimum MTMD for the given total number of TMD's with the optimum frequency range and the optimum damping ratio and that the optimum MTMD is more effective than the optimum single TMD. As for the robustness, it is also clarified that a MTMD can be much more robust than a single TMD while keeping the same level of effectiveness as the optimum single TMD. |
